Restoring a 1932 Chevy Phaeton

This is a discussion on Restoring a 1932 Chevy Phaeton within Pre-War, part of the Vintage Cars & Classics in India category; Friends am lucky to lay my hands on an original single owner (own import) 1932 Chevy Phaeton. I believe its ...

Friends am lucky to lay my hands on an original single owner (own import) 1932 Chevy Phaeton. I believe its Canadian Manufactured and its block reads manufacturing date of 31 August 1932. I dont have its serial number as the floor has been modified from Wooden floor to a metal sheet. I am uploading pics of the car in its current shape. Its just been a week since I have got the car and am thoroughly excited to start driving it. Have done the basic oil change, cleaning of fuel tank and lines, gear and diff oils etc.

Challenges:

1) Stalls in slow idle
2) Does not have original tyres (5.25-5.50 x 18 bf goodridge)
3) Some meters are missing
4) Electrical changed to 12v so unsure if I should change it to 6v

DKG sir was going through your restoration and was blown away. I hope it will be great if I can achieve 10% of it.

Hey Daman,
Congratulations. Car looks to be in good condition.
Is it in Ahmedabad?
What are your next plans with the car?
Since it's a single owner car. It must be linked with good wealthy family of past. Will you be able to share ownership details?

That's a really nice looking car, you should contact Mr. Subodh Nath, from Ahmedabad itself ( president of the Gujrat Vintage car club) he has a workshop too and would help you in great deal. He is also on our forum.

Friends am luck to lay my hands on an original single owner (own import) 1932 Chevy Phaeton. I believe its Canadian Manufactured and its block reads manufacture date of 31 August 1932.

Congratulations on your new acquisition. I'm told these models are quite rugged, reliable and usable, so you will enjoy the ownership experience. Just an observation - while most components would have been manufactured in Canada, there is a good chance that the car was assembled in GM's plant in Sewree, which was in existence since the late 1920s.

I'm particularly pleased to see it is a one owner car - after almost 84 years of ownership - you are lucky to get a period photograph. Any more?

Also, purely out of academic interest, have you been able to find out the previous registration numbers? GJX would have been issued after the formation of Gujarat state around 1960, prior regn must have been BYA, BYB or BYC. And prior to that (pre-1939?) the registration would probably have been a single alphabet followed by 4 numbers, like X 1234 or T 6789. These numbers should be recorded in the RC book, if not duplicate.

Wow. What exactly is Team-BHP? A car-i-pedia, a travel guide, a social network, a user manual, a helpline, photo contest, a serialised adventure? a history textbook? What next?

With members such as karlosdeville and other experts like him Team BHP is all of these and more. Slightly off topic - my grandfather owned a Opel 1936 model which stayed in the family for 65 years and then when my back was turned got sold !?! My uncle (quite old now) could not recall the registration number correctly and yet karlosdeville located the car for me with the new owner a decade and a half later. How amazing is that.

damanthakore, congratulations on your new delight. We look forward to more photographs and any restoration that you may do on the old girl. She is a find. An emoticon for envy isn't available. Just imagine 3 of them here.

I got lucky. Actually I had gone to look at this car for a car for my friend of mine and had taken dad along. He fell in love once he saw it and said tell your friend now this car is your Bhabhi !

Karl.... Tried to look for the old registration but I just have a duplicate copy of the registration book after 1960 is there a way to find out registration number before this ?

The engine compression is good and running ok. What are your suggestions on using engine flush and other additives to improve life of the engine before a rebuild?

For the historians ... Just read on Wikipedia on the previous owner of the car. Making it one of the first select few civilian cars to be allowed by the ruler. He shared personal friendship with Maharao of Kutch, Khengarji III and was personal aide-de-camp (ADC) to him in Coronation ceremony of King George VI in 1937. He was the only person from any community of Kutch, who had the privilege of being ADC to Maharao Khengarji III. Sir Maharao Khengarji, as a mark of their friendship, honoured Jagmal Raja, by his presence, when Degree of Engineering was conferred upon him in London.[4] He was among few persons, who was given permission by Khengarji III to hold a car in Kutch State.

Karl.... Tried to look for the old registration but I just have a duplicate copy of the registration book after 1960 is there a way to find out registration number before this?

In this case I am afraid your best bet is to look for more old photos, and hope the plate is visible. If it was a Kutch registered car, the regn number would possibly have been KHV xxxx. If Jamnagar, could be JAM xxxx, if Saurashtra then SSV xxxx. We have even seen NAVSARI xxx.

Such a shame that none of this is recorded for posterity. We try to do our part here.

1) Stalls in slow idle
2) Does not have original tyres (5.25-5.50 x 18 bf goodridge)
3) Some meters are missing
4) Electrical changed to 12v so unsure if I should change it to 6v

Daman

pretty much all carb cars that stall at idle , do so because the separate circuit for idling is choked. the passage for air fuel mixture for idling has to bypass the throttle plate and usually is no more than a millimeter in dia and is very susceptible to getting clogged. Start by buying a carb cleaner. ive had 100% success rate with idle issues when i used carb cleaners on the idle circuit, and believe me ive dealt with this issue on >5 vehicles.

mechanics will try to clean it with petrol, IT DOESNT WORK!! i recently bought STP carb cleaner, get that , highly pressurized can, will blow the gunk right off.

remove jets and adjustment screws(count the number of turns from full lock for getting a baseline value for adjustment post assembly) spray carb cleaner in the passages and through the jets.

also install a paper element fuel filter upstream from the carb(one from an 800 should do), just to prevent reclogging. ensure your air filter is doing its job and not leaking dust into the system.

I have spoken to his grandson (who is 70! Now) and he is trying to see if there are some more pictures in the family . He is of the opinion that since there was no registration when this car was brought there was no number plate till it got registered.

Congratulations on this dream acquisition. Hope it brings you years of immense pleasure.

Our Karl is well known for his encyclopedic knowledge of all vintage and classic automobiles in India. He amazingly helped me track down some interior trim on a land master for which I am eternally grateful. Its folks like this that makes I worthwhile logging in to t bhp everyday

pretty much all carb cars that stall at idle , do so because the separate circuit for idling is choked.

mechanics will try to clean it with petrol, IT DOESNT WORK!! i recently bought STP carb cleaner, get that , highly pressurized can, will blow the gunk right off.

Amazing find (surprises me sometimes that these kinds of vehicles are still out there) and looking forward to many photos.

Petrol is definitely quite useless for carb cleaning (if petrol could clean it, how would it get blocked in the first place, with petrol continually running through it??!!).

Spray cleaner is strong enough, but won't always get through the whole circuit, though it is certainly good for superficial deposits and loosening up choke mechanisms and the like. It can also be sprayed into the float-bowl vent for some effects in the circuits themselves, but it may prove minimally beneficial in many cases.

If you're feeling confident enough in your abilities to disassemble the carb, you can actually soak the whole thing and its parts in a can/bucket filled with commonly available (paint-shop) lacquer thinner (NOT paint thinner/turpentine - I'm talking about the volatile, old-school stuff that knocks you off your feet when you sniff it!). It works great at dissolving varnish left by old petrol, etc. Leave it in the bath overnight, and it does the same thing as the spray, but much more thoroughly. Jet orifices can also be run through with a thin steel wire (kind of like those used on old kerosene pump stoves, if you can't find anything else - or maybe a top "E" guitar string???). Helpful when the deposits are more like rust/corrosion/debris than varnish.

It is possible, of course, that the stalling is due to something else entirely. Forgive me, but have you checked the idle speed screw and/or timing?

At any rate, a very minor issue for a car of that vintage. Amazing enough that it otherwise runs well.

Keep the car at 12V, as 6V is inefficient. 6V Battery will have to be locally built too.
KPS

I used to have same opinion about 6 volt cars. ( I have two). Then I discovered the Optima 6 volt battery and all problems disappeared. It has enough cranking power to easily turn a v-16 and a Packard 740 all day long. Its sealed and occupies very little space and has five or more years warranty. For me the issue was how to get it across from Dubai. I think it was $120 in Dubai in 2014 and you had to pre-order the 6 volt one . The dealer in Pakistan quoted Rs 40,000 = $400, so I had it brought in from Dubai. Highly recommended if you intend to restore it to original.

got white walls ! My parents actually got it in their check in baggage and came without any hassles. Car is almost ready. Waterpump is an issue as water is not reaching to the top of the radiator in idle. So rebuilding the waterpump . Will keep u all posted.